| If you live in Texas, there's metropolitan areas | | | | office in the county the event took place. After |
| and rural. There's ranches filled with cowboys and | | | | 75 years, birth records become public information, |
| cattle and skyscrapers filled with business suits | | | | and it's after 25 years for deaths. If your family |
| and high heels. However it doesn't matter where | | | | happened to have around Texas at its birth, most |
| you live within the great state, the Texas vital | | | | likely this information can be located at the |
| records are kept for everyone. The records | | | | Genealogy Collection at the State Archives Library |
| protect valuable information for the residents of | | | | in Austin. |
| Texas. | | | | Pros: |
| Records for the state of Texas go back to 1903 | | | | * After 75 years, all births are public records. |
| and are kept at the Texas Department of State | | | | * Records have been kept since 1903. |
| Health Services in Austin. It's generally an easy | | | | * Having identification helps you retrieve a needed |
| walk-in for information if you have all required | | | | record. |
| data with you. Because birth, death, marriage, and | | | | Cons: |
| divorce records are deemed private, only the | | | | * You need a government-issued ID. |
| name on the record or an immediate family | | | | * You're not an immediate family member. |
| member can retrieve the information. This means | | | | * Records will be harder to find prior to 1903. |
| come armed with proof of identity like a | | | | If you've lived in Texas your entire life, then all |
| government-issued ID like a license or passport. If | | | | your important data will be kept safe at Texas |
| you have a request for a copy of a marriage | | | | vital records. This way if something is lost, you |
| license or divorce decrees, this can't be found at | | | | know where to get the information. |
| the state level. People need to go the clerk's | | | | |